Podcasting 101: Be a good listener
It’s amazing how easy it is, as you wade into the waters of on-demand audio, to forget to be a listener. What you once did for pleasure, without giving it a second thought, becomes another distraction. It feels like a busman’s holiday, too much like spending your free time recycling the same experiences you battle through at work. And audio takes this to an extreme that most media doesn’t, because audio is so frequently passively consumed, especially during work hours. Many of my friends, whatever their jobs, listen to podcasts and radio while bashing away at emails or sitting through interminable all-hands meetings. But we — by which I mean: audio creators — can’t do this. I can’t listen to The Joe Rogan Experience whilst editing one of my shows. It would be a nightmare. Which is why the act of being a listener can start to feel like labour, as you embark on your audio production journey. Indeed, I spend so much time with my heaphones on, professionally, that when I’m walking the dog, commuting or driving my car, it can feel nice just to be free of that aural assault. To have a few blissful moments with my own thoughts, rather than Kara Swisher’s or Lex Fridman’s. My first observation here is that it’s ok to think of podcast listening as labour. In fact, I think that’s a good thing. I think it shows that you are computing it as an important part of the process of creating good audio.One of the things that comes up most frequently when you read interviews with writers, or dip into any books on writing tips, is to set aside a part of your writing day, simply to read. An hour or two spent with work that is not your own will nurture your understanding of the world, expose you to other experiences, open your eyes to new and exciting ideas. It will show you things you love, and want to emulate, and things you hate, and want to avoid. But, crucially, it will save you from living in a vacuum.
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